Samsung smartwatch in the works to beat Apple to market?

It was just over a month ago that we discovered that ‘Apple is beyond the experimentation phase in its development,’ of a watch concept designed to interact with their range of iOS devices. Not to be bested by Apple, Samsung have now reveal that they too are working on a smartwatch concept and even went so far as to say: “We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long. ”

Samsung’s Executive VP for Mobile Business – Lee Young Hee was quoted by Bloomberg confirm the existence and the forthcoming announcement of a smartwatch product. During an interview with the publications, Lee also stated that: “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them. ”

The Samsung S9110 watch phone from 2009

Despite Sony having already released a SmartWatch peripheral, designed to work in conjunction with their Android smartphones and the existence of devices like the Motorola MOTOACTV, it wasn’t until the Pebble smartwatch Kickstarter project hit headlines last year; raising a record amount of funds on the online crowd funding website, that tech-savvy consumers started to warm to the idea of such an accessory. Apple also likely took notice of the hundreds if not thousands of iPod Nano (6th generation) users who decided to attach their music players to their wrists rather than slotting them in their pockets.

Samsung’s smartwatch doesn’t have a price or arrival date yet, nor do we know any of the features it’ll tote, but expect it to work in conjunction with their new ‘life companion’ (Samsung’s words, not ours): the Samsung Galaxy S4, which was announced just last week. It’ll be interesting to see this new take on an Android-based smartwatch accessory and how it stacks up against an iOS equivalent.